Thrown Away (Start Again)
by Director of Dreams
Summary: The years are thrown away when Annabeth Chase returns home one day only to discover her long-time boyfriend, Luke, lying in bed, on top of another girl. When the famous Percy Jackson rolls into her life, will she be able to start again? Or is it going to wound up as just another tragic error? AU / Beta : Aspire Away


**Hey guys! For those people who are new to me, I'm Dia, a middle schooler who loves writing more than anything in the world. Except for food and sleeping. This is my first Percabeth AU, so I hope you like it. I'm very excited. Eek! :D**

 **THE ONE AND ONLY DISCLAIMER:**

 **PERCY JACKSON IS NOT MINE. IF IT WAS, I PROBABLY WOULD BE IN SOME POOL HAVING THE TIME OF MY LIFE, NOT STUDYING FOR FINALS. OKAY? NOW, LET'S START THE FANFICTION BROUGHT TO YOU BY A VERY, VERY OBSESSED FANGIRL. I'M LOVING THIS THANG. YEAH-UH!**

 _Annabeth_

"Bye!" I say, smiling at Piper.

"The dinner was really nice. Let's meet sometime again next week, okay?" asks Piper, smiling in return.

"Sure, that would be great. Be careful driving home. Text me when you arrive."

Nodding, Piper waves at me one last time before getting into the car.

Watching her drive off, I sigh and release my hair from the secure bun it had been in. My blonde curls brush against my shoulders, and I comb through them with my fingers.

I walk up the stone stairs leading to my house and reach the wooden door. Turning the key, the lock makes a click noise and I shove the door. It opens silently, and the only sound I hear is the click-clack of my heels. I snap on the living room light.

"Luke? Where are you?" I frown when he doesn't answer. I stand still and ponder for a moment. Maybe he's out? I immediately dismiss the thought, since he rarely leaves the house... I walk towards the stairs and, unstrapping my heels, I kick them off. The disgustingly expensive black shoes meet the ground with a slight 'thump.'

Now walking upstairs with my bare feet, the stairs creak once in a while. The last step groans under my weight, and I reach the second floor. As I walk into the darkness of the hallway, I start to hear disturbing sounds.

"Luke…?" I say out nervously, finally reaching our bedroom. All that answers me is more eerie silence. I hesitate, my hands lingering on the doorknob before gathering up the courage to await what was beyond it. I turn the knob to see the door is unlocked, and it opens easily.

A sight that I never wanted to see greets me. Luke laying on our bed, on top of another chick.

What I see isn't all that surprising. Disappointing, yes but surprising? No. We have been fighting a lot, and I had expected a messy break up for awhile now, but cheating? That was an all time low. Even for him.

A surge of emotions rush through me. I'm not furious, but I feel betrayed. I mean, who wouldn't? Especially after an ongoing relationship of 4 years coming to an end like this.

An unexplained sound escapes my throat, and Luke freezes over his slut.

Leering at him, I cross my arms over my chest, looking forward to his reaction. He turns around slowly, probably trying to convince himself that he heard wrong. His blue eyes widen as they land on my grey ones.

"Shit," He mutters, his voice huskier than normal. He quickly looks down at the girl beneath him, and her eyes dart from me to Luke.

Pulling back, he tosses her clothes at her. "Go, hurry up," he hisses to the poor girl.

I eye her tacky blonde hair, which is 100% dyed, and roll my eyes at the sight of her fake boobs. Tapping my foot impatiently, I watch as the girl scrambles to get clothes on.

When she's done zipping up her ridiculously tight dress, the fake blonde wannabe has the nerve to glare at me, and the sympathy I felt for her vanishes. She leaves our house in seconds. No, more specifically _my_ house.

Luke puts on his boxers, and I wrinkle my nose at their musky smell. He opens his mouth to say something, but I interrupt him. "T-take a shower." I shoo him away while unlatching the window.

He looks ready to argue, but when I shoot daggers at him, his lips purse, knowing better than to go against me when I'm now furious. I can't believe our relationship is going to end like this. What did I do wrong? He walks slowly into the bathroom, looking over his shoulder at me before shutting the door.

Once I hear the water splattering against the tiles, I gather up the sheets and throw them into the laundry basket, making a mental note for myself to do the laundry first thing in the morning. I change the sheets for fresh ones and make sure to smooth down all the wrinkles.

When the musky smell disappears, I close the window. After I'm done tidying up a little, I slump down into my favorite armchair patiently awaiting for him to come out.

A few minutes later, he sheepishly emerges out of the shower, his blonde hair wet and glistening.

"It's not what you think." He mumbles unconvincingly.

I tilt my head back to the ceiling. What a typical thing to say. "No, it's okay. I understand. We weren't on our best terms." I stop for a moment to take a deep breath. Why does it feel like I'm reassuring him than the other way around? "Maybe we can just be friends?" I ask.

His clear eyes soften, and he looks at me doe-like eyes. "We can work this out together. Anna, come on, I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. Please forgive me?"

"We've known each other for years. What you are doing… Aren't the years too good to throw away?" I smile sadly at him, patting his wet cheek. His stubble is prickly under my palm. "I'm sorry, but honestly we were having a hard time. You cheating just sped things up a bit. I'm not angry, just very, very disappointed. I expect you move out by the end of the week. Let's have dinner together to sort things out."

With my last words hovering above his head, I turn to retrieve my forgotten purse from the armchair. I try my best to stay calm as my shaking hands hold it, but I know I'm going to crack any minute.

"Anna, come on. Where are you going?" Luke grasps my wrist, turning me to face him once more.

Now my shoulders are trembling. "None of your business. See you tomorrow. Oh, and when I come back you better be in a place that's not here." I shake off his firm grip and walk out of our house. Finally, tears start to well up, but I quickly blink them away. Not here, not now. I power on my phone and I see that a text from Piper arrived a few minutes ago. Without hesitation, I call her.

"Hello?" Piper asks. "Annabeth! I-"

"I'm coming over, expect me in 10 minutes." I briskly speak as I walk over to my car.

"What's up?" she inquires, worry lacing her voice.

"Let's talk later." Hanging up, I step into my car, all the while chanting a mantra in my head to convince myself this was all meant to happen for a good reason. Not that that helps.

* * *

I ring the doorbell, wringing my sweaty hands. Why the hell am I so nervous?

Piper swings the door open, takes one look at my swollen red eyes (I broke down in tears while driving) and sighs. "Come on in." Leading me to the plush leather couch we always sit in for gossiping, she gets right to the point. "Spit it out."

"Luke cheated." I speak bluntly, heaving deeply.

"What?! That son of a bitch! Come on, you _have_ to get revenge. You fed him, let him live in _your_ house without paying a single penny, and casually gave him moneybags. But what did he do? He fucking cheated!" she rants, her multi-colored eyes blazing.

"It's okay… I think we were going to break up soon anyway."

Piper continues to glare at me disapprovingly. She pushes me further into the soft couch, but I continue give her a stare down.

"Fine." she says, giving in, though there is a suspicious glint in her eyes. "But let's go to a club. I'm stressing, you're stressing, we need a break," she states, placing her hands on her hips.

"But I have no clothes." I whine, attempting to get out of the idea somehow. But the second my explanation comes out of my mouth, I know it's fruitless.

"I have tons of clothes. Or we can go shopping. Oh, wait, that's a perfect idea! It's only seven o' clock, so let's drive to the mall and buy you something nice. Think of it as a, uh… summer present," she tells me, smiling like an excited 5 year old.

"Fine." I throw in the towel, not believing I had lost this round. I narrow my eyes at her.

She gives me a hard, scolding look in return, but then her face brightens. "Come on, let's go have fun. It's been a while."

I only have time to snatch up my purse before Piper pushes me out the door.

"Let's take my car," Piper suggests, and at my silence she gives me an exasperated expression. "Always so stubborn." she mutters, purposely making it loud enough for me to hear.

I bump into her shoulder and stick my tongue out before darting away.

She glares at me before laughing at my childish actions. "You're such a kid."

I flip her off and skip happily to the parking lot of her loft. After having my meltdown in my car, I'm feeling much better. Only best friends can heal a broken heart.

"Are all people, who broke off a 4 year long relationship an hour ago, I don't know, this happy?" she questions, looking at me like I'm some crazy freak.

"Nah, I think it's just my awesome control of feeling."

She rolls her eyes at my illogic logic.

"You drive." I say, leaning back in the passenger seat.

"I was going to," she replies, talking to me like I'm a little kid. Blasting on the radio, I feel light-headed. I'm happier than I've been in a long amount of time, happier than I felt when I was in the same room as _him_. Am I going crazy after our break up? Maybe something _is_ wrong with my head. A burden had been lifted from my shoulders by the gods above, it seems.

As I sing along to the song that's overplayed these days, Piper rounds the corner and drives into town, stopping in front of a sign that says, 'Aphrodite' in fancy pink cursive.

'Aphrodite' is Piper's mom's clothes shop. She was a model back in the old days before setting up a clothesline of her own. The shop ended up being a big success. People from all over the world come to New York just to visit her shop.

As we step in, Piper's mom rushes over to greet us. She grins, her white teeth glowing. Piper explains that her mom's real name is Alina, but everybody calls her Aphrodite, after the goddess of love, beauty, vanity…and so on. The nickname suits her very well.

"Piper, it's been so long! You should visit me more often!" Aphrodite pouts, her red lips shining in the light. You can say that Piper and Aphrodite don't have the best mother-daughter relationship. It had to mostly do with the fact that Aphrodite was one of those people who, erm, slept with a lot of people, and she was never home. It was so bad that Piper ended up spending the holidays and most of her free time at my house.

Gritting her teeth, Piper forces a smile. "I should. Anyways, Annabeth caught Luke cheating, so we're going to a bar. Do you have any dresses that would look good on our little Annie?"

Aphrodite looks at me mischievously. "I'll give it to you for free, if you model for us." she speaks frankly.

I ponder, hating the idea of modeling for Aphrodite. But her clothes are all so pretty... I shrug. "Sure." I work as a part-time model, and for some reason, Aphrodite always wanted me to model for her shop. Aphrodite's clothes are known for being amazing, but extraordinarily pricey. Even if I worked as a part-time model, I don't have the money.

Aphrodite grins. "Fabulous." she says in her unique accent. I have no idea what kind of accent it is, for the matter, but it laces her soft voice and it has the power to persuade people. Maybe that's why she is so successful…

She disappears, and a moment later she comes out carrying several dresses with protective covers over them. They look heavy, but she boosts them higher in her arms as if they're light as a feather. She leads me into a private room specifically for VIPs only.

When we enter, I glance around. It looks as big as my living room. There are couches of all sorts, from leather to polyester, and there is another door leading to the real dressing room where you dress.

Aphrodite unzips the protective cover for one dress, and the black cloth falls gracefully. And just by looking at it, I know this is going to be my favorite from the bundle of clothes Aphrodite is holding. Inside there's a white dress that has short cap sleeves with cutouts. I smile at the sight of it. Simple, yet elegant. Some of Aphrodite's dresses are too complex to look at, but this is… breathtaking.

I reach for it delicately, worried that it may rip if I grab it too hard. I go into the dressing room, and when I put it on, the soft fabric surprises me. I look over at myself at the mirror. It hugs the right places and the dress isn't too short. I love it.

"It's beautiful… but isn't it too much for a club?" I ask, rubbing the delightly soft fabric between my thumb and index finger.

"Of course not, sweetie. You might even meet the man of your dreams today, you _have_ to look perfect for him." Aphrodite says, her full lips curving into a stunning smile. I learned that if she gets excited her accent gets thicker and right now it's on full blast. I give up, nobody can win to Aphrodite in a verbal argument; she's a whiz with words.

"I guess?" I am still trying to get over a breakup, after all.

She smiles at my reluctant reply, a victorious smile etched on her feminine features. "Excellent! I'll see you sometime next month for the photo shoot. I'll be sure to text you!" she says, already psyched for our modeling arrangement.

I groan at the idea of posing in front of a camera. As Piper and I stroll out of the shop, Aphrodite calls out from the back, "Don't forget to exercise and don't eat too much!"

I rub my face, already dreading it.

Piper looks at me sympathetically and pats my back. I once did a photo shoot for Aphrodite and swore that I would not be doing it ever again. I mean, sure, she gives me a lot of money, but she's a perfectionist. I suffered a lot, for one photo I did a fierce diet for a month, for another my makeup was 3 hours worth of time… it's too long to list it all, but it was torture.

After the short ride from the shop, we finally arrive at Piper's house once more. She barges in and tosses her phone on the couch. "Makeup time!" she exclaims, pushing me into a chair. When she was a teenager, she hated makeup but had a talent for it. Now, she loves it and has a talent for it.

On the other hand, I hate it and I'm horrible at it. So I just leave the dolling up to Piper with no complaints. A scary look crosses her features as she grips a brush like it is a weapon.

I just close my eyes and relax my tense posture. The light touch of the brush calms me into a light sleep. Or maybe it's the fact that I woke up early this morning.

As I dream about fields of grass and rainbows a sudden, "Annabeth!" startles me awake. Groaning, I open my eyes to see Piper glaring at me. "Keep your head up! I'm almost done," she grumbles, tilting my chin up with her hand.

I blink the sleep out of my eyes and try hard to focus on Piper.

"Finished!" Piper grins triumphantly and claps once. She hands me a mirror that barely fits all of my face.

As I stare at my reflection, I praise Piper's talent silently. She actually made me look...girly.

"Thanks, Pipes." I look up and see that Piper is already working on her own face, angular brows furrowed in concentration.

I roll my eyes. The typical daughter of Aphrodite.

* * *

Everything happened in a blur. We arrive at the club, loud music attacks my ears, and I already lost Piper to a burly man with tattoos a few minutes ago. I sigh, regretting this already. My eyes scan the dance floor, trying to locate her. I eventually spot her in the crowd, moving her hips with the same man suggestively. Her braids are all over the place and her pink skirt is miraculously shorter than before.

I love Piper, and she usually doesn't acknowledge men, but when she gets drunk (unfortunately, she gets drunk really easily) she goes boy-crazy.

Eventually I decide to leave her to play around for awhile, the whole point of coming was to loosen up, after all. I grab my canned beer from the table and move to the most quiet and lonely corner I can find. Checking my phone, I see it's only 12:38 am. As I entertain myself with Minecraft (I like building houses as an up and coming architect, okay?) someone clears his throat.

Startled, I look up to find a handsome young man with sparkling green eyes and black hair looking at me like I'm from Mars.

The said man smiles crookedly, and his eyes sparkle. "Why is this beautiful woman alone and in a dark corner?" he asks in a voice so heavenly I get lost in it for a second. I shake these thoughts off.

"Because this beautiful woman hates dancing and men." I say, my voice as flat as a board.

"Dancing I understand, but men?" He asks, leaning on the wall now.

"Because they are dirty, cheating creatures." I dully answer, turning back to my phone. Luke's mistake continues to haunt me.

He nods in agreement. "You're right, but not me though. If I was one of them, I'll already be dry-humping someone like uh… her." He points to a girl with long pink hair and matching pink short shorts sucking a boy's face off.

I shudder, a little disturbed at their PDA. "Hmm… maybe. Although I do see that brunette girl eyeing you from here."

And she really was. A petite young-looking girl with brunette hair is looking at the annoying man next to me like he's a chocolate lava cake and you haven't eaten for a year.

He tilts his head idly to look at her. He shakes his head before looking at me. "Not my style, I like sophisticated blonde girls who spends most of her time in a corner playing Minecraft." Winking, he studies me, then looks down bashfully, his long eyelashes grazing his cheeks.

So he was flirting. "Oh, I wonder who that can be?" Sarcasm is heavy on my voice, but he just keeps grinning in that crooked way of his.

"I'll be right back." In a flash, he's gone. Maybe he finally gave up. But it just isn't my day because a second later he comes back with a beer in each hand. "My gift." he says in a faux British accent, and I smile, because it's not manners if you don't smile when you get a free drink.

"Thank you." I say, not bothering with the British accent because I'm horrible at them. I gulp down the drink quickly, so he brings me another, and another. I feel myself getting woozy after time wears on. I let loose and laugh louder with each cheesy joke he tells.

He also looks like he's getting drunk, a faint, never-leaving blush is painted on his tanned face. With each word I say, he leans closer and his eyes widen as if trying to read my mind.

And then I abruptly close my mouth, words forgotten. My mind is racing, but I feel immobile. He smiles, catching my face with his rough hand, his thumb caressing my chin lightly. "You are beautiful. I wasn't lying." He says softly, and kisses me.

With my mouth opening a little, a part of my brain is telling me to stop, but I ignore it for once.

He breaks away and I open my eyes (when did I close them?) to see him looking at me like I'm the best thing in the world.

Okay…my mind lazily processes this. So this is the first time meeting him and he's looking at me like he's in love. Dramatic… As my mind spins, he abruptly grabs my wrist and drags me to his car. "Where's your house?" he asks, buckling me in.

If I do what I'm about to, I'm probably no better off than Luke, considering he didn't even move out yet and it hasn't been more than 24 hours since we ended things. I have a strong feeling that I'm going to regret this. Then again, maybe not.

 **Okay! I'm finished and I think this is the longest chapter I ever wrote. I am all but famished. My back hurts like hell and my eyes are red, but it's worth it! Remember guys, I desperately need a cover so just PM me, and I'll tell you my email. Hoped you liked the chapter! And I almost forgot. I couldn't have done this without my Beta, Slytherin-Hunter Of Artemis! Luv ya o3o**

 **Director of Dreams**


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